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The engaged couple are at the mercy of their parents, and it's best not to orchestrate the meeting with high expectations, Vincent said. But you can use common sense when introducing these strangers.

"I think having people move in and spend a week together is a highly risky endeavor," he said. But it could make a good movie.

We asked readers about their in-law experiences. Of all the submissions, Beverly and Art Simms of Houston had the best -- or worst, depending on how you look at it.

"A lot of people will recognize this story," said Beverly Simms, who has been married for 29 years.

Dog-dead afternoon

Like a lot of people in Louisiana in 1974, Simms moved to Houston to work for an oil company. She met Art, and they were engaged less than a year later. Simms took her fiance to meet her parents and other relatives in Opelousas, La. The yard of her parents' house was packed with cars for the meet-and-greet.

"As people were leaving, we had to move some cars to let the other cars out. I was moving my parents' car, and Art was moving his car while my dad was directing everyone which way to go."

Simms saw Art's car roll over a hump.

"That hump turned out to be our family dog, Tina, our 12-year-old terrier. She was totally devoted to my dad."

Chaos broke out.

"Nobody could believe what was happening. My dad picked up Tina and held her in his arms until she died. I was crying hysterically, and my mom just kept on repeating: `It's God's will. It's God's will.' "

After Tina died, Simms' dad said, "This was the best dog I ever had."

He never got another dog, and Art still feels bad about it.

"And my relatives still joke about it," Beverly said.

Moms don't float

Dorothy Tullos of Plantersville got soaked when she met her son's future in-laws during a weekend fishing trip in 1994.

Returning from a boat outing on Lake Fork, Tullos fell into the lake while stepping onto the dock.

"Somehow I lost my footing, probably because my son failed to tie the boat," she said.

Her son, Dale, turned around to find his fiancee, Mitzi, and the boat floating away and his mother -- who is not a swimmer -- nowhere in sight.

He screams, "Where's my mom?" His fiancee points to the water. And his screams brought the future in-laws and Tullos' husband flying out of the house. Tullos, of course, survived, but she did lose her glasses in the process.

The weekend adventures continued when Tullos' husband, Dave, decided to soak in the upstairs Jacuzzi while the others prepared a meal downstairs.

Suddenly, water was flowing across the kitchen floor. A plumbing malfunction had sent a tubful of water overflowing through the walls. The mess had to be cleaned up.

"Of course, the father of the groom-to-be comes down relaxed from his bath to find the rest of us wading and mopping."

Dale and Mitzi married 10 years ago and live on 20 acres in Chico, and the group has since returned to the lake without incident.

"We now share five wonderful grandkids. And, yes, we still talk about that fun weekend."

8 million stories in the city

Catherine Lee of Houston was living in New York and had been dating Justin Chen about a month when her mother, Young Lee of Ilsan, South Korea, came for a visit in 2002. It was early in their relationship, but Chen promised to go with them to an after-church brunch.

With Lee in the middle, they were walking arm-in-arm when a woman called out to Chen. Lee didn't know her, but Chen mumbled something and broke away to talk to the woman a few minutes.

When he caught up with Lee and her mother, an embarrassed Chen whispered to Lee that she was an ex-girlfriend, who didn't know he was dating someone else.

Young Lee overheard, and in a stage whisper said, "How many ex-girlfriends does Justin have, that in a city of 8 million people, he can just run into one on the street like that?"

"It took me awhile to convince her that the encounter was pure coincidence."

Three years later, Lee, who is a first-year medical student at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and Chen are planning a summer 2005 wedding in Houston. Chen is a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley studying for a dual master's degree in urban planning and transportation engineering.

"We are looking forward to our parents meeting for the first time this Christmas. No. 1 on the itinerary: Go see Meet the Fockers."

Uh, that's my dad

Wife-to-be Gina Moore, who was nervous about meeting Darren Ravey's parents, didn't know Ravey had invited his father, E.J., to stop by a Christmas party. The couple had gone to high school together, but they didn't start dating until Ravey returned from college and become reacquainted with Moore, who was a nurse.

The 1984 party in Port Arthur was at a friend's apartment complex in the community building with a kitchen attached.

"While she was in the kitchen, an older gentleman walked though the back door. She saw him come in, and she called out to my buddy, `The maintenance man is here!'

"My buddy began laughing hysterically, and he told her that was my dad, not the maintenance man."

Gina started crying, and E.J. Ravey pretended to be mad -- at first. He took her to the kitchen to sort out everything.

"About 15 minutes later they returned. My dad had his arm around her, and they were smiling.

"My dad passed away in June 2003, but he and my wife had a great relationship for the 17 years we have been together," said Ravey, who lives in Katy.

And the parrot said ...

There was a pet incident when Diana Sutton and her husband, Larry, met her new son-in-law's family.

The Suttons, of Pearland, traveled to Michigan for a joint family visit before the newlyweds -- who are no longer together -- were shipped overseas for Air Force missions. The son-in-law's family owned cabins on Lake Michigan and had invited several kinfolk.

The Suttons were greeted by the newlyweds and their Dalmatian, Micky. Other guests were there, and one of the relatives brought his parrot, which was sitting on the back of a chair.

While everyone watched, Micky got closer to sniff the parrot.

"All at once, Micky opened her mouth and scooped up the parrot! We were stunned, but my husband acted first. He forced Micky's mouth open and rescued the parrot, which was wet but unharmed."

Sutton laughed and said, "That was a parrot on the half-shell."

The bird lovers were not amused. "They were very insulted. They informed me that the parrot cost a LOT of money.

"We never saw the parrot's owners or the parrot again."

Drama at the table

Dana L. Comer of Missouri City met her future husband, Stephen, at a party on Nov. 1, 1980, and he promptly invited her to Thanksgiving dinner with his family. At the table were his parents; two brothers; the oldest brother's wife and their two children, ages 5 and 8.

"The family was a teensy bit skeptical because I was attending the University of Houston and he was attending Baylor. So we had little time to see each other."

Comer's boyfriend began telling a story about a play he was in at school. When he got to a kissing scene, he decided to demonstrate.

"He grabbed me and pulled me in for a huge kiss right there at the dinner table," she said. "His parents just looked at each other in shock. His brothers looked at each other and started chuckling, and the two little ones laughed out loud."

Comer was stunned into silence.

"I'm sure I turned crimson. That was an extremely awkward moment -- but he just smiled at me and the rest of the family."